


Meet the New Kid

by reddish



Series: The Tiara Chronicles [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F, ME1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-16
Updated: 2013-06-16
Packaged: 2017-12-15 05:28:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/845848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reddish/pseuds/reddish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The crew isn't too happy about their newest member -- Dr. T'Soni ruffles some feathers, but wins some allies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meet the New Kid

The diverse and opinionated crew of the Normandy was bickering, loudly, with each other as Liara and Tara approached the meeting room. The voices were muffled, but Tara could still identify them and make sense of their claims.

“How can we trust her?” Kaidan was arguing. “Her mother’s with Saren!”

“Another alien mysteriously showing up to help humanity? Right,” scoffed Ashley.

“The child isn’t responsible for the sins of the parent,” Wrex grunted.

“She seems young, how harmful could she be?” Garrus asked.

When the door slid open, the crew hushed at once. Tara stepped into the room, and Liara trailed behind her, looking sheepish and uncomfortable. There was one open chair beside Wrex, and Tara nodded for Liara to take it.

Tara settled against the command unit in the communications room, and glared at everyone in the room who was not blue.

“You all have nothing to say now that our new guest is present?”

The crew looked down at their feet, muttering some apologetic bullshit. Tara sighed and made eye contact with Liara.

“I apologize on behalf of my crew. They’re wound tight with what’s been going on, but that doesn’t give anyone an excuse to be rude. I hope you can forgive us.”

Liara nodded quickly, crossing one leg over the other in her chair. “It’s fine. I… I understand the apprehension. But I would like you all to know that, whatever has happened to Benezia, I have not spoken to her since I set out on my own to study the Protheans.”

Ashley looked her up and down. “So, what, 6 months ago?”

Tara turned to face the soldier, hands balled into fists at her side. “Williams,” she threatened between gritted teeth.

Liara laughed, but Tara could tell it was an awkward attempt to diffuse the tension in the room. “I am young,” she admitted quietly. “But I have been working on solving the disappearance of the Protheans for fifty years.”

“See?” Tara gestured to Liara while glaring at Ashley. “She’s been working for fif—fifty?” She jerked her head back to Liara, surprised. “Wait.”

The laugh was genuine that time. Tara saw the asari’s blue eyes sparkle when they met her own. “I am only one-hundred and six years old, Shepard.”

“Damn,” Ashley breathed in disbelief, finally shutting up.

“Right,” Tara nodded, catching on. “Asari. I knew that.”

“Anyway,” Liara continued, “My research has indicated that the Protheans, as vast and powerful as they were, were not the first to disappear suddenly. To have their existence eradicated from the galaxy. It also seems as though this is a cycle, carried out against multiple generations of other civilizations.”

“That makes sense, given what I’ve seen,” Tara sighed.

Liara perked up. “Tara, I believe you mentioned something about a beacon, before you saved my life… again?”

Kaidan muttered something under his breath at her casual reference to Commander Shepard.

Tara let out a deep breath. “Yeah, I saw a vision. It was… intense, and confusing. I think from what we’ve learned so far, it was the Protheans fighting the Reapers. And… well, losing. And now we know Saren and Benezia are after something called the Conduit, and they may be trying to bring the Reapers back. For us, this time.”

“Reapers?” Liara tilted her head. “I’m afraid I haven’t seen a reference to… any of the things you just spoke about. But the fact that you saw the vision… beacons are extremely rare, and the information stored within them takes someone of great mental fortitude to perceive.”

Tara rubbed the back of her neck, blushing a little. “I mean, I didn’t really understand a lot of it. And it knocked me out for half a day afterward. I’m no scholar, clearly.”

“Still… you must have immense willpower and strength to achieve what you have so far.” Liara was looking up at her, a bit of awe on her face. It didn’t help the blush creeping into Tara’s cheeks.

Kaidan cleared his throat loudly, interrupting them. “This isn’t helping us find Saren,” he complained, sounding frustrated.

Tara clenched her jaw, and made a mental note to sneak into Kaidan’s barracks and short-sheet him. Or put live crabs in there with him.

Liara looked back down at her lap. “I’m sorry, I guess I am not of much use to you after all,” she conceded. A thought struck her, and she looked back up at Tara quickly. She stood to make her  next point, fear painted clearly on her face. “But if my mother truly is working with Saren and the Geth… and if she was responsible for what happened to me on Therum, I don’t think it’s safe for me on my own.”

Tali spoke, for the first time since the meeting had begun. “Shepard, she is an expert on the Protheans. If the Reapers are responsible for whatever happened to the Protheans, then I am sure we will need help in that area as we proceed.”

“And her biotics will come in handy when the fighting starts. Again,” Wrex vouched, chuckling.

Tara was listening, but her eyes were stuck on the woman in front of her. This girl was over three times older than her, had been to school longer than Tara had even been alive, was a biotic powerhouse, but she was begging for protection? She knew already, whatever she could do to help keep this woman safe, she would. She just didn’t think Liara needed it as much as the asari seemed to think.

Tara smirked. Maybe there was time to teach her that, too. “Welcome aboard, Dr. T’soni. I’ll show you to a free cabin. Everyone else, dismissed.”


End file.
